Eagles Settle Lawsuit Against Hotel California

posted by Andrew Magnotta -
1 month ago

The Eagles have settled a lawsuit the platinum-selling band filed last year to stop a Mexican hotel from calling itself Hotel California, after the Eagles song and album of the same name.

The band filed suit against Hotel California Baja LLC last year, accusing it of trying to monopolize the brand and capitalize on the Eagles' most popular song.

A joint dismissal the lawsuit came Wednesday after the hotel owner withdrew and application to trademark the name Hotel California in the U.S. Reuters reports. The hotel promised to permanently abandon the trademark application.

"This case has been settled by mutual agreement of the parties," said a lawyer for the Eagles.

The band alleged in the lawsuit that the hotel was attempting to mislead customers into thinking Eagles had approved of the use of the song and album title by playing up the supposed connection, reports Rolling Stone.

The hotel frequently played Eagles music on the premises and sold merchandise branded "Hotel California," the band alleged.

The hotel, which is located about 1,000 miles south of San Diego, denied wrongdoing, saying it was unlikely fans would be confused.

It was reportedly called Hotel California originally when it opened in 1950 and had changed names several times over the years. In 2001, a Canadian couple bought the hotel and restored the original name.

The Hotel California album came out in 1976 and was one of the longest songs ever played as a single on FM radio at the time.